Andhra Pradesh Land Licensed Cultivators Act, 2011

(Act No. 18 of 2011)

AP137

Published in the Andhra Pradesh Gazette, Part 4-B, Extraordinary, No. 27, dated 23-12-
2011,
The following Act of the Andhra Pradesh Legislature, received the assent of the
Governor on the 22nd December, 2011 and the said assent is hereby first published on
the 23rd December, 2011 in the Andhra Pradesh Gazette for general information:
An Act to provide loan and other benefits eligibility card to the farmers, who raise crops
with express or implied permission of owner or pattadar of land, but have no record for
such enjoyment without effecting the rights of owners, enabling them to access credit
from the public financial institutions and to claim benefits of input subsidy, crop
insurance, compensation for damage to crop and for matters connected therewith and
incidental thereto.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Andhra Pradesh in the Sixty-second Year
of the Republic of India as follows:
1. Short title, extent and commencement: - (1) This Act may be called "The Andhra
Pradesh Land Licensed Cultivators Act, 2011".
(2) It extends to the whole of the State of Andhra Pradesh.
(3) It shall be deemed to have come into force with effect on and from the 7th June,
2011.

Object & Reasons 6

Statement of Objects and Reasons:-Agriculture
farming in Andhra Pradesh is undergoing several
changes with large number of farmers, both big and
small, are switching over to other professions and
white collar jobs, whereby actual cultivation of the
lands is taken up by the tenant farmers whose names
remain unrecorded whereby such cultivators are not
eligible for institutional finance and a range of other
public benefit to such as compensation in the event of
natural calamities, input subsidy such as seeds,
subsidised fertilizers, pesticides and implements, crop
insurance etc., since these benefits go to the
registered owner of the land. Hence these cultivators
are eventually driven into the informal credit market
which supplies loans at very high rate of interest which
greatly adds to the cost of cultivation.
 The Jayathi Ghosh commission set to study the status
of farmers in A.P., submitted its report in 2005 wherein
among others, it recommended that tenant farmers as
actual cultivators should be recorded carefully and
should be entitled to various benefits provided by
Govt. to other farmers including loans from public
financial institutions and subsidized inputs, and
compensation for losses during calamities etc. Likewise
the Koneru Ranga Rao Land Committee in its report
submitted in 2006 recommended that Loan Eligibility
Cards should be issued to the tenant farmers to enable
them to access bank credit and subsidy and other
benefits from Govt. Agencies without creating fear
among the land records about curtailment of their land
rights.

It is equally important to address the Food security

concern expressed by several experts across the world
and in our country. In that context there is imminent
necessary to provide suitable support to actual
cultivators.

In consonance with the above recommendations the

Govt. of Andhra Pradesh proposes to introduce a draft
Bill to recognize the rights in crop of the licensed
cultivators of land with the following salient features:

(1) To provide Loan and Other Benefits

Eligibility Cards to licensed cultivators of
land.
(2) To provide licenced cultivators access to
public financial institutions for loan, crop
insurance, input subsidy, agricultural inputs
etc.
(3) To claim damages of crop on the strength
of the Loan and Other Benefits Eligibility
Card.
(4) To create confidence among licenced
cultivators.
(5) To safeguard the rights of landowners or
pattadar of land.
Appended to LA Bill No. 7 of 2011, Published in Andhra
Pradesh Gazette Part IV-A, Ext No. 7, dated 25-3-2011

This Bill seeks to give effect to the above decision.

2. Definitions: - In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires:
(1) "Agricultural Land" means land, which is used or is capable of being used for the
purposes of agriculture crop, other than Government Land or land assigned by the
Government to the poor for agricultural purpose;
(2) "Agricultural Year" means the year commencing on the 1st day of May;
(3) "Crop" includes;-

(i) all crops of food grains, pulses, oil seeds, vegetables, Jute, cotton, chillies,
sugarcane, grass, tobacco;
(ii) horticulture, spices;
(iii) mulberry; and
(iv) any crop as may be notified by the Government.
(4) "Eligibility Card" means the Loan and Other Benefits Eligibility Card issued under
Section 3;
(5) "Government" means the State Government of Andhra Pradesh;
(6) "Member of the family" means spouse, sons, daughters and parents;
(7) "Licensed cultivator of Land" means and includes the farmers who cultivate the land
of others with express or implied permission, either on payment of rent or any other
means of consideration without exclusive possession, for one year or until the duration
of crop whichever is later and whose names are not recorded in any of the revenue
registers concerned to that particular land:
Provided that the licensed cultivator shall not be a member of the family of the
owner/pattadar of the land concerned;
(8) "Prescribed" means prescribed by rules made by the Government under this Act;
(9) "Revenue Officer" means Deputy Tahsildar, Mandal Revenue Inspector and Village
Revenue Officer as may be specified;
(10) "Notification" means the notification published in the Andhra Pradesh Gazette or the
District Gazette and the word 'notified' shall be construed accordingly.
(11) The words and phrases which are used but not defined in this Act shall have same
meaning as provided in the Andhra Pradesh Record of Rights in Land and Pattadar
Pass Books Act, 1971 (Act 26 of 1971).
3. Issue of Loan Eligibility Card: - (1) On and from the date of commencement of the
Act, every licensed cultivator, who requires a Loan and Other Benefits Eligibility Card,
shall be entitled to enter his name in the register of loan and other benefits in respect of
concerned land, maintained for such period and in such manner as may be prescribed.
(2) On such entry in the records, every licensed cultivator shall be entitled for a Loan and
Other Benefits Eligibility Card, to be issued by the Revenue Officer.
(3) The Eligibility Card issued to a cultivator, shall create only a right on the crop raised
therein and no rights whatsoever shall accrue on the land.
(4) The licensed cultivator may be entitled to secure crop loan from any Public Financial
Institution, crop insurance, input subsidy in his name and other claims of damage to the
crop raised over the said land on the production of the Eligibility Card, subject to the
norms governing these benefits, but it does not create or confer any right of possession,
tenancy or interest of whatsoever nature over the land under the licensed cultivation.
(5) The licensed cultivators whose names are entered in the said record, specified in this
section are entitled to possess an Eligibility Card ordinarily for the concerned year only
but it may be for a further period depending on the duration of the crop raised together
with the explicit or implicit permission of the owner of the land, enabling them to get
benefits specified in the said card.
(6) The Public Financial Institutions may sanction crop loan only on production of
Eligibility Card without insisting the production of any revenue record.
(7) The farmers, who had occupancy right in land either under the Tenancy Laws or
under the Andhra Pradesh Rights in Land and Pattadar Pass Books Act, 1971, or other
revenue laws and got their names recorded in concerned registers are excluded from
the benefit under this Act.
(8) The Eligibility Card, issued shall ordinarily be valid for one agricultural year but it may
be issued for longer period or renewed where long duration crops are taken up.
(9) The Revenue Officer shall finish the list of card holders prepared in sub-section (2) to
the Public Financial Institutions in advance for sanctioning Crop Loan.
(10) The Owner or Pattadar of land inspite of the land given on licensed cultivation is
entitled to get loans, other than the crop loan, from Public Financial Institutions on
security of said land.
4. Applicability in the Scheduled Areas: - In this Scheduled Areas of the State of
Andhra Pradesh, this Act shall apply to licensed cultivators who belong to Scheduled
Tribes notified within the Agency area only.
5. Appellate Authority: - Any person aggrieved by the decision of the Revenue Officer,
in matters concerned with Eligibility Card, may prefer an appeal to Tahsildar of the
Revenue Mandal in the prescribed manner and the appellate authority shall dispose of
the appeal by summary enquiry within, fifteen (15) days and its decision shall be final.
6. Nodal Agency: - The Chief Commissioner of Land Administration shall be the Nodal
Agency for the purpose of this Act and the Agencyinay from time to time issue such
orders and instructions as may be necessary to implement the provisions of the Act and
the rules made thereunder and to achieve the object of the Act.
7. Protection of persons acting in good faith: - No suit, prosecution or other legal
proceeding shall lie against any officer of the Government for anything which is in good
faith done or intended to be done under this Act or the rules made thereunder.
8. Act to override other laws: - The provisions of this Act, shall have effect
notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in any other law for the time being in
force, except the Andhra Pradesh Scheduled Areas Land Transfer Regulation, 1959
(Regulation No. 1 of 1959).
9. Bar of Jurisdiction of Civil Courts: - No decision made or order passed or
proceeding taken by any Officer or Authority or the Government under this Act, shall be
called in question before a Civil Court in any suit, application or other proceeding and no
injunction shall be granted by any Court in respect of any proceeding taken or about to
be taken by such Officer or Authority or Government in pursuance of any power
conferred by or under this Act.
10. Power to remove difficulty: - If any doubt or difficulty arises in giving effect to the
provisions of this Act, the Government may, within a period of three years from the
commencement of this Act, by order published in the Gazette, make such provision as
appears to it to be necessary, or expedient for removing the difficulty.
11. Power to make rules: - (1) The Government may, by notification, make rules for
carrying out all or any of the purposes of this Act.
(2) Every rule made under this Act shall, immediately after it is made, be laid before the
Legislature of the State, if it is in session and if it is not ion, in the session immediately
following for a total period of fourteen dads which may be comprised in one session or in
two successive sessions and if, before the expiration of the session in which it is so laid
or the session immediately following the Legislature of the State agrees in making any
modification in the rule or in the annulment of the rule, the rule shall, from the date on
which the modification or annulment is notified, have effect only in such modified form or
shall stand annulled as the case may be, so however, that any such modification or
annulment shall be without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under
that rule.
12. Repeal of Ordinance 1 of 2011: - The Andhra Pradesh Land Licensed Cultivators
Ordinance 2011 is hereby repealed.